Wrapping for rectangular articles



Y NOV. 25, 1941. I w ATKINSQN 2,263,835

WRAPPING FOR RECTANGULAR ARTICLES.

Filed May 27, 1939' I N VEN TOR.

Patented Nov.v 25, 19 41 F-FICE I WRAPPING FOR ARTICLES William H. Atkinson, San Francisco, Calif, as-' signor to California and Hawaiian Sugar Refining Corporation, Limited, San Francisco, Calif a corporation Calitornia Application May 21, 1939, Serial No. 276,097 1 Claim. (01. 206-56) This invention relates to a wrapping for a plurality of articles of like dimensions and more having a particularly to a wrapping for articles cubes of rectangular form such as, for example,

An object of the invention is to provide a sanitary and novel wrapping for food products of rectangular form which can be conveniently opened intermediate its ends to permit a discharge of the articles without contact with the fingers of a user.

Another object of the invention is to provide a wrapping for a plurality of cubical articles from which one of the articles may be removed without removing the remaining portion of the wrapping from the other article.

A further object of the invention is to provide a wrapping for articles of rectangular form in which the wrapping may be easily broken to expose the articles by the impartation of a relative twisting movement between the wrapped articles. v 1

At the present time it is the practice in leading hotels and restaurants where sugar tablets are used, to wrap the individual tablets and thus prevent a handling thereof prior to their ultimate use by a patron. Several such expedients are now on the market. One such wrapping for use with a single tablet of sugar is illustrated by U. S. Patent No. 1,882,124 issued October 11, 1932 to Alexander Dienst. This wrapping, however, is open to the objection that it necessitates a tearing away of an intermediate portion of the wrapping thereby exposing the tablet to handling in order to effect its complete removal from the wrapping. A disadvantage of'the wrapping disclosed in this prior patent is that a single tablet of sugar is rarely sufllcient for the average user and often two complete tablets are not required. Therefore, should a user break and use only a fractional part of one of the tablets, the remaining portion thereof will be completely unwrapped and thus exposed to handling should it be retained for future use.

To remedy this situation it is a further object of the present invention to provide for a wrapping of two tablets of sugar in cubical form in such a manner that the wrapping may b removed from either one of the tablets without completely unwrapping the remaining tablet. A further advantage of the inventionas applied to sugar tablets is that when the" wrappin is broken as contemplated the sugar tablets may be individually discharged from the halves of the wrapping and into a cup without contact with the fingers of th user.

In its simplest form the invention contemplates 'a rectangular sheet of paper, Cellophane, foil or the like having a width suiiicient to extend over at least two articles with a foldmg closure at the ends and of a length mint cient'to encircle said articles when arranged side by side with an overlapping at one side of the wrapping and in which there is formed a score line that is adapted to coincide withand ex tend around the wrapping at the meeting faces of the wrapped articles. A modification of the invention also contemplates the provision of a wrapping sheet with a score line and a tonguelike extension at one end that is divided into two parts by the score line, whereby a portion of said tongue-like extension will be retained by each of the halves of thewrapping when opened by a breaking thereof along said score line.

For a better understanding of the invention reference should be had to the following description taken in connection with the accompanyingdrawing, wherein there is shown by way of illustration and not of limitation preferred embodiments thereof.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is a perspective view showing the wrapping as applied to two sugar tablets of cubical form,

Figure 2 is a perspective view showing the manner of wrapping two cubes of sugar in accordance with the invention,

Figure 3 is a perspective view showing a modification of the invention with an extending tab formed at an outer edge of the wrapping, I

Figure 4 is a perspective view showing the form of the sheet used in producing the wrapping illustrated in Figure 3, and

Figure 5 shows the wrapping of Figure 3 as broken to permit a discharge of the wrapped articles therefrom. I

while it is conceivable that the present invention may find many fields of application, it is considered that its most practical use will be found in the wrapping of sugar tablets and therefore for the purpose of this disclosure the invention is illustrated and described in connection with such a use. In

their preferred form the sugar tablets are cubical in shape and are of such a size that when wrapped they will form an elongated rectangular package that can be conveniently grasped at its ends by a user and readily opened by the application of a simple twisting movement exerted between the ends of the package.

In Figure 1 of the drawing the invention is illustrated as applied to the wrapping of two sugar tablets of cubical form. The wrapping as here shown, comprises a sheet of material ll having a length suflicient to provide an overlapping of the sheet along at least one side of the sugar cubes and with its outer end, designated by the numeral Ii, located at one edge of the package thus formed. The sheet of wrapping material lo has a width suflicient to permit a folding over, as at I 2, at each end of the package. At this polint it should be said that where the sheet of wrapping material It is of light weight, an adhesive means may b necessary at the outer overlapping fold I2 to thus retain these folds in position. However, where the sheet of wrapping material It is of proper stiffness, it has been foundpossible to so crease the wrapping that no adhesive is necessary at this point to retain the folds in their final position.

In addition to the above characteristics the sheet of wrapping material It is provided with a scoring or series of perforations which form a severance line I3 that extends longitudinally through the sheet. The severance line I3 is preferably located centrally of the sheet of wrapping material IIl so that when two sugar cubes are wrapped therein the severance line I! will extend aroun the package in the plane of and in coincidence with the meeting surfaces of the enclosed sugar cubes. With the sugar cubes wrapped in this manner, it will be readily seen that if a twisting force is exerted in opposite directions between the two ends of the package, as illustrated by the arrows applied to this figure of the drawing, the adjacent corners of the enclosed sugar cubes will exert what might be termed a shearing force along the severance line I3 andthus produce a clean-cut breaking of the package at this point which will expose each of the sugar cubes and permit their individual discharge from thewrapping without a handling of the cubes by the user.

'Upon referring to .Figure 2 of the drawing,

wherein two sugar cubes, designated by the numeral II, are shown as having the sheet of wrapping material ill partially applied thereto, it will be readily seen that the problem of wrapping cubes or other rectangular articles in the manner contemplated by this invention is not in any way complicated. In fact, sugar cubes have been and are now being wrapped in this manner by automatic machinery. In other words, the present invention provides many advantages over prior art wrappings and at the same time it does not -present any difficulties in its application to the wrapping of. sugar cubes or the like either by hand or by machine. As here illustrated, the sheet of wrapping material I preferably has a length substantially equal to five times the dimension of one side of the sugar cubes and a width thatprovidesa slight extension at each end of the package which can be overlapped and the sheet of wrapping material I. and also through the projecting tongue I! at the end thereof.

From an inspection of Figure 5 of the drawing wherein the package illustrated in Figure 3 of the drawing is shown as broken to expose the cubes I4, it will be seen that with the arrangement illustrated the sugar cubes I4 may be individually discharged from the separated halves of the package without being handled by. the user. This is particularly true where the sheet of wrap ping material III, as shown in Figure 1 of the drawing, is of a relatively stiff character, as the half portions of the package when thus broken form a relatively stiif box-like enclosure from which the individual cubes Il may be readily discharged. Where the-sheet of wrapping material III is of relatively light weight, however, it

has been found that the sides of the box-like enclosure so formed tend to collapse under the pressure of holding same. Therefore, the projecting tongue l5, as shown in Figure 5 of the drawing, is desirable as it provides a short tab that may be grasped by the free hand of the user to effect a spreading of the remaining portion of the wrapping so that the sugar cubes II can be quickly and effectively dropped therefrom.

While I have, for the sake of cleamess and in order to disclose the invention so that the same can be readily understood, described and illustrated specific devices and arrangements, I desire to have it understoodthat this invention is not limited to the specific means disclosed, but may be embodied in other ways that will suggest themselves to persons skilled in the art. It is believed that thisinvention is new and it is desired to claim it so that all such changes as come within the scope of the appended claim are to be considered'as part of this invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

A package consisting of two similar six-sided solids arranged with corresponding sides in abutment, a wrapper therefor comprising a flexible rectangular sheet embracing. the sides of the solids adjoining themeeting sides, said sheet being of a width sufficient to fold into flaps over the outer sides of the solids opposed to the meeting sides to form closures therefor when the sheet folded atthese points to completely enclose the v sugar cubes I4, as illustrated in Figure 1 of the drawing.

In Figure 3 of the drawing there is shown a modified form of the invention in which the sheet of wrapping material I 0 is provided with a centrally disposed outwardly extending projec-' tion or tongue l5 through which the perforations or scoring that forms the severance line I3 extends andbisects.

ing tonguev I5 is to provide tabs that may be graspedby the user, after the package is broken, as will hereinafter appear, to effect a further The purpose of this projectunwrapping'of the, individual sugar cubes should this be found necessary.

In Figured: of the drawing there is shown a developmentv of the sheet of wrapping material I0 of the type illustrated in Figure 3 of the drawfling. As is here clearly shown, the scoring or perforated line which-forms theseverance line I3 extends longitudinally and centrally through embraces the solids and of a length sufficient to overlap at least one of the sides adjoining the meeting sides when the sheet embraces the solids, the outer lap of said sheet at said one side being formed with a single tongue on the free edge which will project outwardly from the package, said tongue being located along the medial line of the sheet with respect to its length, and said tongue and sheet being formed with an uninterrupted seriesof perforations extending along said medial line to provide a severance line coinciding with the meeting sides of the solids and also bisecting the single tongue, whereby the corners of said solids at the meeting sides will exert an outward shearing force and shear said sheet and tongue along said severance line when an oppositely directed twisting force is applied at opposite sides of the severance line and thus sever the package into two separate parts each having a solid therein and also a portion of the severed tongue for manipulating the solids free of their corresponding parts of the severed wrapping.

WILLIAM H. ATKINSON. 

